


An Empire of An Unusual Sort

by Neond



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fire Emblem: Awakening Spoilers, Gen, I promise that it's worth it, I'll add more tags as this goes on, I've had this AU in my mind for a long time, One-eyed Cordelia, This will be a long ride, Time Travel, caused by the only ones who remember the original timeline, chapter 3 is when this starts getting good, if I'm being completely honest, it's more like an alternate timeline, let's freaking go, so please don't turn away because of the first two chapters, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-09-26 02:21:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neond/pseuds/Neond
Summary: So, what if the second generation characters in Fire Emblem Awakening undid Grima's existence? Well, according to this fanfic, you get a world much worse than the canon one. Also, this is the first fanfic I've written in a long time. Please don't destroy me. Constructive criticism is appreciated, though.





	1. How Did We Get Here?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not trying to be overly edgy.

It had been a stressful day, but to the people who lived in the ruined future, stress was normal. But today was more stressful than any had been so far. Today was the day the Awakening was performed, and Grima would be killed before it could become the threat it did.

It was Morgan’s suggestion to prevent Grima from ever existing instead of just preventing Grima from ending the world. They would go back in time, and see the beautiful world they helped bring about when they got back.

Noire had readied her bow, and aimed it at the horrid creature who caused all of this. Severa was right next to her, and the others took different hiding positions.  
“Fire!” Lucina exclaimed, and Noire loosed an arrow into that horrid creature’s skull.  
It was finally over.

“Let’s return to our time, everyone!” Kjelle declared, and as Naga opened the portal back, they each triumphantly darted in, one by one.

…

Nah woke up on the ground, and saw a woman with the Brand on her forehead in a green robe standing above her. She carried a sword in one hand, and a tome in the other.

“I see you’re awake now. There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know. Tell me your name,” she said, sheathing her sword and extending her hand.

“Nah,” she replied. “I’m trying to find someone named Chrom, could you help me?” The woman froze… then, quietly but visibly, began to cry. “Is something wrong?”

“My brother died six years ago.”


	2. Ylisstol at Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan and Noire arrive in the new world, but they are quickly met with a surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, but Chapter 3 will make up for it.

Morgan and Noire fell through the portal through time, landing near the outer edge of Ylisstol in the middle of the night. The two siblings slowly got up, neither one wanting to speak until they could get to safety. After all, they saw a multitude of Plegian flags. Morgan drew their sword, while Noire drew her bow.

They began to slowly and stealthily walk towards where they think they’ll be safe. Hopefully, they can find their friends.

A warrior in jet black armor with purple accents carrying a scythe slowly crept forward. The one with black hair dressed like the Emperor, while the one with white hair looked like an older version of the royal heir. Gaius would clearly want them questioned…

The warrior began to walk faster, and they were noticed by the siblings. Morgan and Noire began to run at a rapid pace, with Noire putting away her bow, but not her arrow. A bit of emergency self-defense wouldn’t hurt. The three raced through Ylisstol, with Morgan throwing down some emergency caltrops to halt the armored warrior’s advance.

The warrior managed to skillfully dodge the caltrops, only being slowed down slightly. Morgan and Noire continued to run away, when they spotted a wooden watchtower that they could use to pelt this warrior with spells and arrows from a safe distance. The warrior simply kept up the pace, appearing to not have a hint of exhaustion. Noire climbed up the watchtower first, with Morgan following suit. Morgan dropped some more caltrops right beneath them and their sibling.

By the time the armored warrior arrived at the base of the wooden watchtower, both Noire and Morgan were at the top. Morgan began to pelt the armored warrior with Arcthunder, while Noire used arrows. The warrior simply shrugged off the attacks, and swung at the base of the watchtower with their scythe.

The watchtower collapsed, with Noire being knocked out by the fall. Morgan, still conscious, stood up and attempted to carry Noire away to safety, but was stopped with a powerful step kick to the ground. The armored warrior began to speak.

“You will likely not be killed, just questioned. Do not resist,” they declared.

Morgan began trying to drag Noire away, but it was no use. All they could do was desperately ask the armored knight one question: “who the hell are you?!”

“I should be asking you that,” they replied. The armored warrior slammed the blunt end of their scythe against Morgan’s forehead, knocking them out as well.


	3. Bleak Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More characters make their first proper appearance.

Severa jumped through the portal through time, and ended up in a place that she did not expect: a military base filled with Valmese flags. Soldiers immediately took their lances and pointed them right at Severa. One of the soldiers asked, “Who are you?!”

Cordelia walked forward, an eyepatch over her right eye. Severa looked shocked. “Mother,” she asked. “What happened to you?!”

Cordelia was clearly taken by surprise. As far as she was aware, she had no children. “Tell me your name,” she demanded. “You can also tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right here, right now.”

Severa, shaking, reaches into her pocket, and takes out a charred feather hairpin. “My name is Severa. Y-you used to wear this before you died.”

Cordelia inspected the hairpin, and nodded to herself. She then asked Severa, “what’s going on?”

Severa nodded, responding with “I can tell you everything you need to know, okay?” She didn’t think she would be acting like this near her mom, of all people, especially around soldiers who she’s never seen. But seeing Cordelia with an eyepatch, pegasus feathers strapped to her armor, and carrying a bow instead of a lance had an effect on her.

Cordelia simply replied by telling Severa that “I don’t think I’m the only one who needs knowledge.” She sighed. “Severa, let’s speak privately.” The soldiers looked incredibly bewildered. Who is this woman who suddenly appeared, claiming that the commander is her mother?! And why is Cordelia seemingly trusting her?!

Cordelia led Severa to what seemed to be an especially private war room. She then immediately demanded to know something from Severa. “How the hell did you even get here?!”

Severa was shaking. “Okay, so I know you won’t believe me, but me and some other people travelled back in time with help from Naga to kill the dragon that ruined our world and… killed you, Mother…” Severa was currently holding back tears, and after a brief pause, she continued to speak. “The dragon’s name was Grima. It was possible to seal Grima away for a thousand years if we just used the Falchion, but one of my friends thought that going back in time to do that just wouldn’t be enough. They wanted to make it absolutely certain that Grima would never threaten anyone.”

Cordelia took a deep breath, and nodded. “Is there any more you wish to tell me? This tale is so absurd, it’s as if it’s impossible to make up.” Severa shook her head at Cordelia’s question, and then spoke up. “May you please explain what is going on?”

“I will,” replied Cordelia. “I’m the leader of the Second Deliverance, one of two major resistance groups against the Plegian Empire and Emperor Robin. The other rebellion is the Shepherds, led by Emmeryn, and they’re based in former Ylissean territory. We’re somewhat coordinated. Currently, we’re more focused on undermining local rulers, while the Shepherds are more focused on finding the Falchion, as it’s one hell of a unifying symbol.”

Severa is currently very confused, and asked Cordelia a question. “Wait, why are you even telling me any of this? You only just met me.”

Cordelia smirked. “Well, a certain mage named Laurent fell into my room a couple months ago in a very similar fashion to how you entered this military base, told me a very similar story, and then gave me some names. You were one of those names.”

Severa smirked back. “Well that’s cool. Let’s go find the others.”

\---

Lucina leapt through the portal, landing on top of a roof of a building in Plegia. With Parallel Falchion in her hand, she slowly crept and traversed from rooftop to rooftop, trying to find a safe way down. After about five minutes of this, she encountered a hooded figure carrying a sword.

The hooded figure turned around, and immediately drew his blade at Lucina, and growled at her in a hushed tone. “Why are you impersonating a dead man? You sicken me.”

Lucina went wide-eyed, and opened her mouth to speak. “Gaius?”

Gaius made a step towards Lucina. “How do you know my name? Answer my question, as well as the previous one.” Anger dripped from his voice.

Lucina nodded, and made her reply. “This is going to sound crazy, but I’m Chrom’s daughter from the future. A dragon named Grima became the herald to the world’s end, and you died fighting his undead soldiers. But before you did, and after my mother died, you were the one to help raise me and my sister.” Lucina gestured towards the Parallel Falchion. “This is all I have left of my father, now.” Lucina looked at Gaius in a way that would make Gaius notice her Brand in an attempt to convince him.

Gaius looked… shocked. The anger dissipated from his voice as he began to speak. “...You’re not gonna like knowing this, but Chrom died six years ago. Emperor Robin had him and his sister Lissa executed,” Gaius sadly stated and sighed. “He had them pushed off of a cliff for seemingly no reason. I offered to execute them in far less painful ways, but he refused.”

Lucina was utterly appalled. “N-no…” Her words turned into incoherent mumblings as tears fell down her face.

Gaius walked towards Lucina. “Do you need a hug?” Lucina nodded, and Gaius wrapped Lucina into a tight hug.

“If you tell nobody that you saw me, I won’t tell anyone about this,” whispered Gaius. “Deal?”

Lucina nodded and pulled away from the hug. She wiped away her tears, and both of them went their own separate ways.

\---

Kjelle’s portal threw her into what looked like the inside of a fortification. She overheard a conversation, and wishing to know more, went behind a wall and leaned her ear towards the noise.

One of the voices was instantly recognizable, that being Henry. “We’ll be able to really mess up Nowi’s soldiers if we do this, Aversa! Nya ha ha!”

  
_ Oh. _ That didn’t sound good. The other voice chuckled a bit. “Exactly. May Duma bless us in the coming battle…” Aversa grinned, and spoke up again. “Well, I’ll be on my way. I have important business to attend to.”


	4. This Just Got Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important characters get introduced, and there's a follow-up on the events of Chapter 2. This is my favorite chapter so far.

“You don’t need to hide like that.” A mildly frustrated voice called out at Kjelle.

Kjelle, shocked, turned to see who said that. She turned to find a blond-haired woman in full armor, carrying a sword in one hand and a notebook in the other. She had the Brand of the Exalt on her head, just like Aunt Lissa’s older sister. “W-who are you?!”

The woman responded, simply saying “my name is Emmeryn. I know why you’re here, and what happened. Your friend Nah explained that to me pretty well.”

Kjelle sighed in clear relief. She opened her mouth to ask a question. “Who were the people talking about trying to ‘mess up Nowi’s forces’?”

Emmeryn nodded. “Aversa and Henry,” she replied. “The former is my second-in-command, and the latter is my spymaster.” Her smile evaporated, leaving only a scowl in its place. “Nowi is one of the most important people in the Plegian Empire. She’s the top general, and a butcher of the highest order.”

Kjelle nodded. “Good to know, Emmeryn,” she stated. “Do you know where any of the others are?”

“Nah is with me,” Emmeryn responded. “Cordelia and the Second Deliverance have Laurent and Severa with them. There are also rumors of a woman who greatly resembles Chrom carrying a copy of the Falchion.”

“Lucina!” Kjelle suddenly became excited. “If my sister can wield the Falchion, does that mean you’ll be able to as well?”

Emmeryn nodded. “Yes, but the Falchion is in the possession of Emperor Robin. Finding it and taking it back is important to us, because the Falchion in our hands would be a formidable rallying point for widespread rebellion. Tiki and Panne are working on finding and pursuing leads.”

Emmeryn then looked downward with a solemn expression. “Now, there are things you need to know. Chrom and Lissa are dead. And if what Nah told me is true, the parents of a lot of your friends died before you were born. Simply put, there does not seem to be any reason that you still exist. Tiki thinks that because you were the ones who are responsible for time being altered, that you are largely unaffected by the drastic change.”

Kjelle’s expression turned solemn and determined. She then had an idea that she quickly communicated. “If we changed time before, we can change it again. We could prevent this from happening, and hopefully create a better world.”

Emmeryn grinned. “You’re a quick thinker,” she stated. “I know Sully very well. I’m not surprised that she raised someone like you.”

A soldier suddenly ran up towards Emmeryn, and opened his mouth to speak. “We just got a report that a Plegian general is planning to capture some of our members and forcing them to betray us in a couple of days.”

Emmeryn then bore a cast-iron glare. “I’ll send Lon’qu and some of his assassins to kill the general and his soldiers.”

Kjelle then asked a question. “What should I do?”

Emmeryn’s response was immediate: “go help find the others.”

\--

Morgan and Noire had been in this cell for a couple of days. The only people they ever saw since the masked knight knocked them out were hooded assassins patrolling and keeping guard. Today, that would change.

Gaius and the masked knight from before entered this particular area of the dungeon, which made Morgan and Noire go wide-eyed. Gaius noticed this, and nodded to himself.

Gaius then calmly stated an order. “Alright, everyone except for the Revenant needs to leave this area now.” The assassins nodded, and orderly exited the area. Seeing that nobody other than the prisoners and the masked knight were there, Gaius calmly walked towards the imprisoned Morgan and Noire.

“I know what’s going on,” he stated. “I bumped into one of your friends last night. Look, I’m gonna be honest: Emperor Robin is real interested in someone who looks like an older version of his daughter and someone who dresses just like him walking around Ylisstol in the middle of the night. Especially if neither one of them has ever been seen before.” Gaius took out a candy from his pocket, opened it, and popped it into his mouth.

Noire spoke up, utterly terrified. “S-so… our dad is the Emperor of Plegia?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” shouted Morgan. “Isn’t Plegia a theocratic kingdom and not an empire?”

  
The Revenant made their reply. “The conquest of Ylisse, a Plegian Civil War between then-King Gangrel and then-economic advisor Validar, and Robin’s coup d'etat a couple years after Validar’s victory changed that.”

Morgan slowly nodded, and then inquired again. “What about Valm and Regna Ferox?”

“They were conquered too,” the Revenant replied.

Morgan looked confused, and then asked another question. “But why? Wouldn’t that be incredibly difficult to manage and control? A massive empire seems real fun until you need to deal with the bureaucracy required to keep it from collapsing in on itself.”

The Revenant chuckled. “I like this one,” they stated with mild excitement.

Suddenly, another portal opened, and Brady fell through right on his back. “What the hell?! Why?!” Brady became understandably worried when he saw that Gaius was keeping Morgan and Noire prisoner. 

He then opened his mouth to speak as he was shaking. “D-dad?”

Gaius was quite nonplussed at this development. “...Huh. This is interesting.” The Revenant simply nodded at Gaius as their reply.

Morgan then faced Brady, and began to explain. “Okay, so Robin is an evil emperor who rules Plegia, Ylisse, Ferox, and Valm.  _ Yeah. _ ” 

This is when Brady went from moderate terror to absolute terror. “I-is Mom okay?”

Morgan then turned to Gaius. “Is Maribelle alive?”

Gaius had to think on it. He knows and remembers exactly what happened to Maribelle, but Brady is her son, and Brady claims to be his son as well. How does he say this? The Revenant did not have this dilemma, however. “Assassins under Gaius’ command killed her.”

While Brady  _ very understandably _ gets extremely angry at the alternate timeline version of his dad, Noire has been shaking for a little while. Yeah, Morgan is really the only one out of them, Brady, and Noire who is currently mentally okay. They then ask Gaius a question. “...Is it possible for you to free us? You’ve already interrogated us, and you can simply tell everyone that we’re innocent and that there’s no reason to further keep us here.”

The Revenant chuckled again, louder this time. “Oh, I  _ really _ like you,” they stated. “You’re very clever.”

Morgan simply muttered “not clever enough” to themselves.

Gaius thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Sure, I can get all three of you free. As Robin’s top assassin, I have a lot of personal freedom as to how I do things.”

Gaius then ordered the Revenant to do something in a low tone, not loud enough for anyone else in the room to hear. The Revenant nodded, and walked towards another room. After a minute or two, the previously dismissed hooded assassins reentered the room. One of them, who had some sort of badge on his uniform, took out a set of keys, and unlocked the cell. Gaius gestured to another hooded assassin, and then spoke up. “She’ll escort you out of here, don’t worry.”

Noire, Morgan, and Brady followed her, and it was clear that she was used to escorting individuals out of here. She led the three through a highly efficient path out of the dungeon with a mostly neutral expression, with her eyes darting about, looking for anything that could impose a detour, and when they got out, she simply waved them goodbye, and walked back into the dungeon.

\--

Owain was shackled to a wall in a dungeon cell, face-to-face with Donnel, who had a weapons rack right next to him. Donnel was currently holding a hammer, and repeatedly slamming it into Owain’s stomach.

Donnel cackled. “Before, I would’ve had you killed for insanity with the story you cooked up, but ever since the report from what happened in Ylisstol recently, I had to rethink some things.”

There was an appalling sparkle in Donnel’s eyes as he put down the hammer, grabbed a lance, and stabbed Owain right through his left arm. He cackled as he began to taunt Owain. “Your mother and uncle were cast off of a cliff at the order of the almighty Emperor Robin. I think I’ll keep you around for a while, though. New captives are always the best to torture. After a while, some of my captives show less of a reaction, so it stops being as fun,” Donnel chuckled sadistically.

All Owain could weakly say was “w-why..?” He did not expect to live to escape this place, and even if he did, he doubted that he would ever be able to fight again. Simply put, he was terrified of the man he had previously known as Nah’s loving father.

Donnel bore a sadistic grin, and slashed at Owain’s chest and stomach with a sword before stabbing him in the right arm with it. Owain screamed in agony as Donnel cackled. “Now they almost match, blondie!”

Donnel put down the sword and lance, and then began to repeatedly punch Owain in the face and slam the back of his head into the wall he was shackled to. Donnel then took the lance he put down along with another lance, and stabbed Owain through both of his legs. Donnel then frowned, and angrily stated that “unfortunately, this might’ve been a bit much for one day. Hopefully, you’ll survive this, because getting carried away deprives me of good captives.”

Donnel then walked away from Owain, taking the weapons with him. The moment he thought Owain thought that Donnel was no longer there, he sighed with relief. Tears started to flow down his face. Owain couldn’t handle being incapable of fighting. He had no idea what he was good for other than his swordplay.

\--

The next day, Donnel was thankfully away from the dungeon for the entire time. During that period, in the dead of night, two people managed to sneak into the dungeon in an attempt to free Owain. One of them took out an armorslayer, and used it to cut the shackles binding Owain. She then put away the armorslayer, and picked up Owain to carry him out. The other served as a lookout and carried a sword for the defense of all three in case they were attacked.

Luckily, the three managed to escape the dungeon without being noticed. When they got out to a secluded forest, Owain was laid against a relatively soft-looking tree to rest for a bit. The one who was carrying Owain then spoke up in confusion and mild annoyance. “Ugh, Inigo, why did you trust that guy? We might’ve been killed, you idiot!”

Inigo sat down as he was trying to find something that could stop Owain’s bleeding. “You saw the condition Owain was in, Severa. I don’t know why I trusted him, but I’m glad we did, and I’m even more glad I had your help.”


	5. Fort Michalis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We got some combat!

Inigo carried Owain into the small Second Deliverance base. Cordelia directed him and Severa into a room that currently contained a couple places for the injured to rest, Libra, and Laurent.

Laurent grinned when he saw Inigo and Severa, but that rapidly switched to a wide-eyed look of intense worry when he saw what had happened to Owain. He rushed over to the injured swordfighter, and his words contained a strong sense of anxiety and fear. “D-don’t worry, w-we’ll heal you as quickly as we can.”

Libra nodded. “Don’t be so nervous, Laurent. He will be okay, and we will make sure of that.”

Inigo placed Owain down, while Laurent was shaking as both he and Libra began healing Owain. The wounds were neither recent nor mild, so the process was taking longer than usual. Throughout all of this, Owain was barely conscious, being too drained of energy and blood to speak, see, hear, or think properly. As his wounds began to be healed, however, his senses began to come back to him.

“MY SWORD HA-- oh, hello! Glad to know that you’re all still alive in this world!” His voice displayed cheerfulness, but everyone in the room understood that this was a facade, Inigo in particular.

After a couple of minutes of friendly banter between Owain and Inigo, the healing was completed. Libra then opened his mouth to explain something to Owain. “It is unfortunate, but… your arms are not fully healed quite yet, and I do not know when they will be. Until they do, you should not be on the battlefield.”

Owain’s heart sank. “I know a bit of magic, though,” he argued. “I can still fight!”

Laurent sighed. “Owain, it is imperative that you wait three days before fighting at the bare minimum. During that time, I am willing to instruct you on magic, if you comply.”

Owain nodded with a hint of sadness.

Severa had an infuriating realization, and immediately communicated it. “Next time I see Morgan, I am punching them in the face. This is their fault!”

Inigo suddenly spoke, puzzled. “Wait, so… if my mother is dead, HOW AM I STILL HERE?! If I’m correct, then Morgan, Noire, Nah, Severa, and Yarne are the only ones out of all of us that have any right to continue existing!”

Laurent adjusted his glasses, and then spoke up. “Well, in actuality, it’s more accurate to say that the vast majority of us would never  _ have _ existed. You cannot cease to exist if your parents died before you were born. My hypothesis for why we continue to exist is that we were collectively responsible for the alteration of time. Therefore, that could potentially be the explanation for our shielding from the temporal consequences of our decision.”

Libra just slowly walked out of the room with a bemused expression on his face as he went to discuss something with Cordelia. I understand, buddy. I understand…

Laurent, Inigo, Severa, and Owain were currently all in a state of minor panic and major frustration because of Inigo’s and Severa’s realizations, respectively.

Inigo sighed. “Why. That’s not a question, I just need to say what I’m feeling right now.”

Severa nodded to herself, and then began to speak. “Look, you idiots. We need to focus on some important goals here: One, we need to find the rest of our friends, because it was only a stupid miracle that Owain is still alive! Two, we need to figure out a way to kill Robin and break the Plegian Empire. Three, we need to prevent ourselves from removing Grima from existence, which is what caused this mess.”

Laurent, Owain, and Inigo all nodded in agreement. Inigo was the next to speak. “So, do we have any leads?”

Laurent thought for a moment. “Well, the Shepherds, the rebellion that’s led by Emmeryn, has Nah, Kjelle, and Lucina with them. Other than that, I have no real clue here.”

Owain grinned at Laurent. “You sound like a spymaster.”

Laurent grinned back. “Well, I’m in a unique position to help the Second Deliverance.”

\--

Yarne appeared in some poorly-lit corner of what appeared to be a fortress. All he had on him were a dagger, an unlit torch, and most importantly, a beaststone. Transforming might get him killed, and he doesn’t exactly want the taguel to go extinct. That, my friends, would be very bad.

Yarne slowly crept forward, trying to hear anything that could help him figure out where he was without compromising his stealth.

“So what you’re telling me is that  _ assassins led by a female look-alike of Chrom _ are going to attack us? What the actual fuck?! This is absurd!”

Another soldier sighed in exasperation. “Look, Nigel, that’s the report. And we have to deal with that. Commander Orton is having us search for spies within the fortress. We need to prevent this place from being compromised.”

Nigel made a noise of exasperation, and then went to work.

When Yarne looked forward a bit, he noticed that nobody could see him, so he rapidly and stealthily dashed to a nearby edge of a poorly-lit corridor. Convenient. Yarne crouched down, and sneakily crept further into the corridor, trying to find a military uniform he could wear and a weapon he could use. Yarne internally cursed at himself for forgetting to bring an axe with him. He wasn’t particularly good with one, but he wasn’t fatally terrible.

Yarne observed a thankfully less observant hooded figure who was carrying a sword, specifically an iron sword. He was likely a newer recruit, so he might be easy prey. “Finally,” Yarne thought to himself. “I’m not going to be prey!”

However, when Yarne was getting tantalizingly close to killing the Plegian assassin trainee without breaking concealment, said trainee turned around, and raised his sword overhead. Yarne sprinted forward, holding his dagger in his right hand and supporting it with his left hand to block the trainee’s downward slash. After the block, Yarne followed this up by punching his enemy right in the stomach, causing his grip over his sword to fail. Yarne immediately grabbed the sword and used his dagger to stab his opponent in the face.

After the duel, Yarne dragged his slain victim to an empty room, and took his robes for his own. It was a lengthier than ideal process, but still, he was able to do it without being noticed. Now, he was faced with two challenges: not be killed by the occupants of the fortress, and not be killed by one of Lucina’s assassins.

He remembered that escape and survival were his main objectives, not sabotage of the fortress or the death of the commanding officer. Those were just secondary goals that would be quite satisfying to help achieve. Yarne won’t be going extinct today!

Yarne started patrolling and trying to limit how suspicious he might look. A stern-looking woman who was also wearing a hooded robe walked towards Yarne. She then asked “are you one of the new recruits,” to Yarne. Yarne, being quite nervous, silently nodded.

The hooded woman looked curious, and she inquired again. “What’s your name?”

“Yarne,” replied the taguel very quickly. Yarne then internally screamed at himself “WHY DID YOU DO THAT YOU IDIOT?!”

The Plegian assassin then spoke up again. “Yarne? That’s a nice name, it reminds me of one of my old friends. I’m Adelaide. Follow me.” Yarne followed Adelaide, his heart pounding and his mind racing the entire time. She attempted to engage in small talk. “I’m glad that I get to talk to someone new here. Everyone in this damn fortress who’s been here for at least a month can’t stop arguing about the Emperor’s religious freedom policy. I mean, I worship Duma, but those who follow Mila and Naga aren’t lesser than I am.”

After Yarne took a small moment to silently thank Laurent for offering him to read about different religions, he then made his reply. “I-I agree. As for me, I follow Naga.”

Adelaide twirled a knife in her right hand. “Naga, huh? You’re reminding me of my friend more,” she said in a casual tone.

Yarne’s heart rate began to increase further when he realized that Adelaide just took him to an otherwise empty room. He then uneasily asked Adelaide “why are we here?”

Adelaide then sighed. “You’re a taguel, aren’t you?” She took Yarne going wide-eyed as a “yes.” Adelaide then immediately said. “You need to keep that hood on at all costs. There are people in this fortress who would kill you if they found out. Also, what weapons are you good with?”

Yarne sighed with absolute and utter  _ relief. _ He then, far more calmly, stated that “I’m best with an axe. I-I don’t want to go extinct…”

Adelaide gave Yarne an iron axe. Yarne was elated that he now had access to the weapon he could use best. Well, the weapon that he could use best without painting a  _ massive _ target on his back.

Adelaide then gave Yarne an order. “I need you with me to make sure the supply lines remain intact. We can’t have the Shepherds cut off our lifeline.” Little did Adelaide know, Yarne was loyal to a high-ranking Shepherds member.

Yarne was currently having a dialogue with himself. “Adelaide is pretty nice and doesn’t want me extinct,” Yarne went over in his head. “But I-I can’t betray Lucina! And I d-don’t want Adelaide to die, she’s a nice person! Is that too much to frickin’ ask for?!” Huh, Brady is starting to have an effect. Interesting.

Soon, both Yarne and Adelaide heard shouting and sounds of death. Adelaide nodded to herself, and unsheathed a Killing Edge. She turned to Yarne, and gave an order. “Fight for two things: your life and this fortress.”

Both entered the battle, quickly entering the front lines mostly undetected. In the chaos, his hood fell off of his head, and his Taguel ears were revealed. Chances of survival just went down… 

Yarne internally shouted at himself that there was “no time to pause! You just became a target for enemy soldiers, you cannot go extinct here!” He immediately began moving away from any combat possible, but a target was painted on him. To add insult to injury, the people he was forced to kill largely consisted of people being commanded by one of his close friends.

Unexpectedly, a mage aligned with the Shepherds cast Thoron at an enemy soldier, but missed, and hit a torch instead. The torch  _ exploded _ , leaving the segment of the fortress where the majority of the fighting was going on a ruined mess of rubble and debris. Yarne could barely see anyone, desperately hoping that those he cut down with his axe were people who wanted him to go extinct.

_ Shit. _ Yarne bumped into someone, and he fell down. “Ow!”

A voice quite familiar to Yarne spoke up. “Yarne? What are you doing here?” She held out one of her hands to help up Yarne.

“Lucina, it’s great to see you,” Yarne responded. He gladly accepted the hand, and stood back up.

Lucina gave Yarne a fist bump. “I’ll explain everything later. Now, we need to capture this fortress.”

Yarne nodded in response. “Got it, Lucina!”

The two then charged to the front lines, slicing, impaling, slashing, and hacking their way through enemy soldiers. The entire time, Yarne’s eyes were split between focusing on the battle and darting about, hoping that a certain individual was not dead.

Lucina, meanwhile, was entirely focusing on this battle. A myrmidon leapt at her with a standard-issue sword, attempting an overhead slash to the head. Lucina sidestepped to the left, turned to the right, and decapitated her foe. She then confidently walked forward, disarming and cutting down enemy soldiers with seemingly no effort.

Meanwhile, Yarne was taking a less professional angle, preferring to simply use overwhelming strength. He paired brutal kicks with powerful strikes from his axe. Yarne, using a trick he learned from Severa, disarmed an enemy soldier by cutting off his axe hand, grabbed the short axe before it fell, hacked part of the disarmed soldier’s head off, used the stolen short axe to cut through the neck of a soldier was behind him like butter, and then threw the short axe into the head of a mage that was giving allied forces a tough time.

Orton, the fortress commander, was expertly using his brave axe to repel the Shepherds’ assassins. However,  _ Lucina and Yarne are not Shepherd assassins. _ Before confronting Orton head-on, Yarne broke the iron axe given to him by Adelaide by cleaving a sorcerer’s head in two. He then threw the broken handle like a javelin at Orton. The makeshift spear was deflected, as expected. However, the deflection left Orton open. Orton was barely able to prevent his head from being cleaved off of the rest of his body by blocking Yarne’s stolen steel axe with his brave axe.

Yarne and Orton were mostly matched in axeplay, but the moment Lucina joined in, things quickly fell apart for the fortress commander. In a last-ditch effort, he attempted to force a torch to fall the ground and burn the rebel soldiers who seized the fortress. However, before he could, Yarne cut off his forearm by slamming his steel axe into Orton’s right elbow. As Orton screamed in pain, he was decapitated by Lucina.

The remaining Plegian forces either fled or fell. After taking a bit to calm down, Lucina explained what had changed because of their decision to prevent Grima’s existence. Because of this, Yarne was panicking and shaking. “Wh-what the hell did we do?!!”

Lucina sighed. “Yarne, I have no clue how this happened, but we need to perform the Awakening again so we can undo this. We didn’t trade away a hellhole under Grima for a hellhole under Robin!”

Yarne, still shaking, made his reply. “A-agreed. W-we need to truly h-help the world!”

Both Lucina and Yarne took a well-deserved rest inside the fortress that night. 

For those of you who want to know what happened to Adelaide, she survived the battle. Events that would transpire the next day would cause Adelaide’s loyalty towards the Plegian Empire to waver slightly.

And for those who are wondering what happened to Nigel, he found out later that day that his father died due to a disease. Because there were many more reinforcements than expected, Nigel was allowed to go home for the day.


	6. A Look at the Other Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I'd also like to apologize that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. I'll try to make it up to you!

The Emperor and the Empress were in a war room, sitting on the adjacent seats they had designated for themselves. Other high-ranking individuals within Plegia, those being Nowi, Gaius, and Donnel, were at the war room meeting as well.

Robin opened the discussion. “Hmph. Fort Michalis has fallen, there are people who have popped into existence out of nowhere who claim to be from an alternate future, and now another Falchion is in play. This is simply an extraordinary event.”

Nowi did a small stretch, and then spoke up. “Well, I say we kill them all! This is nothing that can’t be stopped with sheer force.”

Gaius sighed in mild annoyance, and then looked straight at Nowi. “A blunt hammer is not always more effective than a sharp dagger. Your way is  _ not _ the only way, and I find it infuriating that you’re seemingly incapable of realizing that!”

Donnel then made a contribution to the current discussion. “Well, milord and milady, I will do my absolute best to root out any traitors within the Raven Guard. If  _ Henry _ could betray us, then  _ nobody _ has absolute loyalty.”

Tharja thought to herself, then took out a map of the area surrounding Fort Michalis, and then spread it across the war room table. “Heh. Hey Donnel, you’ll like this: this is the  _ exact _ situation that’ll allow us some fun…” Tharja simply smirked, and Donnel replied with a maniacal grin.

Gaius then facepalmed. “Donnel, have you ever heard of this thing called positive reinforcement?”

Donnel laughed in response. “Yes, but I think it’s absolutely pointless.”

Gaius then went wide-eyed. He expected a pretty bad response, but  **holy ** ** _shit._ ** “Donnel, you are fucking crazy.”

Robin slammed his fist down onto the table to get everyone’s attention. “Enough! Gaius, Tharja and I will let you do things your way, as our regime rarely suffers from you doing so.  _ The same goes for Donnel and Nowi as well. Am I clear? _ ”

“Yes, sir,” Gaius calmly replied.

Robin then leaned in to whisper into Gaius’ left ear. “Also, I know what you’ve been doing behind our backs. I’ll let your little archery lessons continue for now.”

Because of that, Gaius entered a state of mild panic that he successfully attempted to hide. He didn’t want Noire to get hurt. Well, the Noire of this world. Meanwhile, Donnel was sharpening his knives, Nowi was inspecting the map, and Tharja was reading a tome.

“Gaius, where is the Revenant,” Tharja inquired. “Oh, and Robin, there’s some information I’d like to share with you in private later.”

“Oh, the Revenant is off investigating a lead for the whereabouts of the additional Falchion,” Gaius nonchalantly replied.

Robin raised an eyebrow at Gaius, and then turned towards Tharja after lowering said eyebrow. “Understood, love.”

Robin and Tharja then left the war room for a more private place, with the three lieutenants remaining in the room.

Donnel threw a knife right at Gaius’ neck. Gaius’ reaction? A sidestep. “You’ll have to try harder than that, Guard Captain.” Gaius then drew his Killing Edge, ready to defend himself.

Donnel simply chuckled. “Why would I attack you when I can just torture people already captive? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, after all.” Once again, the appalling spark in his eyes could be seen. Donnel and Nowi began talking to each other in a low tone, and left.

Gaius was now alone in the war room. The isolation was both comforting and suffocating. On one hand, he was alone, but on the other hand,  _ he was alone. _

\--

The Revenant had just gotten word that Lon’qu and his assassins had just annihilated an enemy encampment. A troubling report, but not unexpected. But luckily for the armored scythe wielder, he knew where these assassins are likely located. It would only be a matter of time until he sank his scythe into each and every one of them.

The Revenant unflinchingly walked into a nearby forest, scythe in hand. He looked skyward, silently investigating the trees for enemies. The Revenant observed his surroundings, felling any trees that he thought currently hid Shepherd members. After multiple failed attempts, the Revenant managed to cause one of Lon’qu’s assassins to fall to the ground.

The Revenant stepped on the prone Shepherd’s chest, and began to speak. “I assume that you know both what I am and what will become of you?”

The assassin wordlessly nodded, before attempting to cut the Revenant’s ankle armor with a knife. The Revenant simply laughed. “A futile yet valiant attempt.” The Revenant drove his scythe through the Shepherd assassin’s head, before flinging the corpse into a tree branch to impale the corpse on. Brutal…

The Revenant continued to methodically walk through this forest, and he only ended up killing three of Lon’qu’s assassins. However, the Revenant would end up finding something that piqued his interest far more.


End file.
